Aviation debuted in Tucson in 1910 when Charles "the Bird Man" Hamilton landed his plane downtown.

The sport caught on. By 1919 Tucson was home to the nation's first municipal airport--which was located where the Rodeo grounds are today. By 1927 the airport had moved to a larger parcel of land and Charles Lindbergh arrived in his Spirit of St. Louis to dedicate the new Tucson Municipal Airfield.

The war department accepted 16,000 acres at Tucson Municipal from the city in 1940 to use as an air force base. Civilian and military aircraft shared the runway. However, after the war, it became clear that Tucson's skies were too busy to handle both military and civilian traffic. So, civilian operations had to move to make room for the expansion of Davis Monthan Air Force Base, which remains an important Tucson establishment.

In 1948 the city of Tucson asked the Chamber of Commerce Aviation Committee--headed by local car dealer Monte Mansfield--to set up the airport. This resulted in TAA's birth. The new municipal airport moved to 2,500 acres south of town where Grand Central was using an 11,000 ft. airstrip and three massive quonset-style hangars (which still remain on the airport's west ramp) to modify and repair B-24 bombers for Korean War duty.

Throughout the next two decades TAA was busy attracting tenants and catering to the airlines. American was the first commercial carrier to arrive in Tucson. They have been here since 1927 and still remain one of Tucson's top three carriers. Frontier arrived in 1950, followed by TWA, Tucson's own Apache, and Continental.

Aeronaves de Mexico--later to become Aeromexico--arrived in 1961. This opened the door to Mexico and Tucson became an international gateway. Tucson opened a federal inspection station in the early 1990s and obtained designation as a port of entry.

The Arizona Air National Guard 162nd Fighter Group moved to Tucson International in 1956. Just two years later, a 10 and one half story control tower opened. TIA’s growth soon mandated a new terminal building. In 1963, the current terminal building opened across the field.

Gates Learjet opened a sales and marketing operation at TIA in 1976, then added a customer service center. In 1993 they were acquired by Bombardier, a Canadian company which manufactures the Challenger executive jet. Hughes Missile Systems, which borders TIA, began to expand and today leases approximately 100 acres from TAA. Today, the company employs 2,000 workers.

In 1985, twenty two years after it first opened, the terminal building was remodeled, doubled in size, and jetways appeared. Today we are once again remodeling the terminal adding over 60,000 sq. ft. to the terminal, a new rental car facility and adjoining rental car parking garage.

Lockheed opened a major modification center in 1990, but closed it in 1996 as a result of their corporate reorganization.

Passenger traffic grew immensely in the early 1990s when discount carriers arrived in Tucson, bringing with them highly competitive fares. In 1994 TIA experienced its largest increase in passenger traffic ever, with a 25 percent jump in arrivals and departures. By the end of 2000, the airport was logging more than 3.5 million enplanements and deplanements every year.

The Authority recently updated TIA's master plan--its long-range blueprint for the future. Issues covered include environmental cleanup of groundwater and soil contamination, soundproofing about 1,400 homes at the northwest end of the airfield, plans for future runway and terminal facility expansion, and continuing investigation of ways to enhance southern Arizona's airline service.